joshnys8913

Seems like it took them forever to launch Buffalo, the biggest NY state city in upstate NY (outside of NYC).  If I remember correctly Albany, Utica, Jamestown (and that area), Rochester (where I live by), Syracuse and then Buffalo.... (is what order they were launched in, I know there were smaller towns included)

Seems out of order to me, according to metropolitan size it would be Buffalo, Rochester, Albany, Syracuse, Jamestown and Watertown (which are about the same size I believe).  

Looks like Buffalo finally got there official launch of LTE (as of Sprint website and map all orange now) It does include Lockport and Niagara Falls.  

Ah, that is an interesting idea.. although I would have to do some work to make sure I can add those columns to existing database files without corrupting them. I'll put that as a priority to work on.

 

I do want to apologize to everyone for my lack of any updates lately.. I have been absolutely swamped at work, which is sucking away all the free time I need to work on my master's.. leaving less than no time for SignalCheck. I'm still trying to find exactly what is crashing Android L, I wanted to at least get that out; I might just push an update that disables all notifications if it detects Android L as a temporary fix, since that would be quicker.

 

 

As Flompholph pointed out, that is just a placeholder, and there is a known Android bug that causes the address geocoder to randomly stop working, and requires a reboot to get going again. You might have been seeing the address "right away" in the other areas because the app had previously cached them (which circumvents that bug nicely and does not use any data transfer).

 

 

This issue has been my nemesis since B26 and B41 started lighting up, and I'm seeing others report it to SpenceSouth and the LTE Discovery crew in their app, so I know it's not just me. For some reason, phones are not always reporting the same PLMN to the engineering screen and to the OS. For a long time I thought it was a bug in my code that runs if the PLMN changes, but now that I'm seeing similar issues with other apps, it makes more sense. It appears to be very random as to when it does or does not report the same values. Sadly I would expect the N5 to be the most well-behaved, but it seems to suffer from the same issues that other devices do. I don't know if it's a network issue, an Android bug, an engineering screen bug, or lousy programming in the radio firmware. I'm still looking for solutions but it's really just a case of the device feeding the app (or the engineering screens) bad data.

 

-Mike

I did restart my phone twice on Vacation, I even un-installed and reinstalled the app. (just to see if that helped and it didn't, and there was no update available).  I have the LG Optimus G (Old phone now but I love it!!!!)  

I am not making a big deal out of it, I was just telling what I observed and asked if maybe it was a bug or something, lol

"Click for map" is just a place holder until your phone has data to send the location to Google for an address.

 

I was wandering if in the logs 3 columns could be added best_signal_lat, best_signal_long, and best_signal_dbm . That way we can track band 26 and 41 or even band 25 easier. And see what tower maybe broadcasting after a trip if we didn't notice it at the time.

I kept the app open for over 10 mins each time I checked when I was down there because I thought that was the issue was data was slow, but it just sat there, I even did a data connection reset and that did nothing new for me..... Like I said once I got back into a Samsung area it shows the address right away no issue..... 

I tried looking though pages and pages of this thread to see if I could find an answer to what I noticed when I was traveling.  I did try a couple of key work searches but nothing came close to what I discovered....  I have the PRO version and when I am in my home market I can see what tower I am connected to in the BSL line for a simple example 123 Random Rd, City.  Now this past week I went on vacation and I was in SC/NC.  I noticed on that line "click for map" .  I am in a Samsung vendor market and in the NC/SC when I was in a Alcatel Lucent vendor market.  I did look to see if there was a setting I messed around with and changed on accident, but I couldn't find anything.  Maybe its because I am using an older phone (LG OG)?  Or is it because of the Vendor difference?  Once I got back into a Samsung area it started showing the street address.  Anyone help me out with this or direct me to where this is in the thread that I may of missed?  

Thanks, Josh

I just came back from Myrtle Beach from vacation and what a difference from last year!!!!! I never went down to 1X unlike last year. I was connected to LTE most of the time, but theres one tower in progress and has been for a really long time it seems (of course I was staying near that area) and it flipped over to 3G when I was at the hotel at the beach front.  This is the most improved market I have been in, HOWEVER doing some speed tests on 4G were very slow compared to tower near home.  The 3G speed tests were decent and were about the same across the board from what I have seen with NV 1.5 to about 2 down and 1 up.  I know the whole Myrtle Beach area gets really congested in the summer and I had an at&t phone with me and the 4G LTE speed tests were only SLIGHTLY better and even though at&t JUST launched the Myrtle Beach market less then a month ago not all of there towers are LTE.  I did not have the other two carriers to test.  If any market that really needs more bandwidth its this market for sure, especially during the summer, Spark would help out the congestion A LOT!!!!

Does the expiring roaming contract apply only to area's previously serviced by alltel, or is it everywhere Sprint relies on VZW for roaming? I ask because huge areas of rural upstate/central New York are only serviced by Verizon and it would really suck to lose that roaming coverage.

I know where your talking about!

Maybe it has something todo with Sprint trying to rely less on Verizon coverage and more on partner coverage. At the end of the day, the best solution is just to make a new map but who knows how long it'll take for that to happen.

Thats what I am thinking too, they are trying to phase that out as much as possible with big red V.....  Their contract is until 2015 (if I remember right).  Sprint buying T-mobile will help out tremendously with coverage.  As much as I have seen on here how much some of you do not like Son, I do believe he really is trying to improve Sprint, he seems to be frustrated with the FCC at which I don't blame him at all.  Dan when he came in 2007 really tried too, just the money wasn't there......  One small side point I think it does really show how bad the United States is (in this current time), its sad how we are in really bad shape and we need OTHERS to help us..  Not to get off topic of anything, this is just how I view it as a mid 20's young American guy!

Guys, this is much ado about nothing.  Individual device coverage maps have oft been inaccurate.  Do not worry about it.  All Sprint roaming to this point is either Cellular 850 MHz or PCS 1900 MHz.  And all modern devices support both bands for CDMA2000.  Until Sprint adds Lower 700 MHz, Upper 700 MHz, and/or AWS 2100+1700 MHz LTE roaming, the need for individual device coverage maps is basically nil.

 

AJ

Hey it did make me look to see though, I really wish Sprint would change there maps, sometimes it takes a good 15 seconds to "load" when zooming in or out.  Everyone elses maps are bigger too, not just a small box, lol.  Not a big deal but a change would be nice. 

Actually your right, I just had to double check, when I had selected no specific device, data roaming is only in VERY few places according to the new map update....  I rarely travel outside native Sprint coverage so I wouldn't know.  Plus I thought Sprint had roaming agreements until at least 2015... Very interesting, I would like to know too! 

Sorry if this is in the wrong section, but I had a question about Sprint's data roaming on newer triband devices. I am currently in the market for a new triband cellphone but I noticed that the latest phones don't have data roaming in places older phones have data roaming. 

 

For example, this coverage map is for the newer Samsung Galaxy S5. Notice how data roaming is non existent between Denver and Wichita, KS

 

 

Now notice the massive difference in data roaming on a single band Galaxy S4

 

Is this a correct depiction of data roaming on newer devices (like the Galaxy S5, G Flex, One M8)? And if it is, is it a compatibility issue or is it a move away from data roaming? I ask this because voice roaming seems to be the same on the voice coverage maps on all devices. This would definitely be a deal breaker for me since I do roam and use data(I use up about 60-80 MB a month). Any information on this would be great since my contract has been up for over a year and my phone is in dire need of retirement. I'd like to keep Sprint, but if roaming is out of the picture then I would need to consider my options. Thanks.

I saw when I checked it out for myself Voice stays the same but not data, I didn't check any other "new", recently released devices, but my guess is possibly just was just an error when they updated the maps.  However to answer your question about Sprint trying to get away from roaming as much as possible I would say yes now that they are able to use 800 now, (well in most places except by the country borders for now).

I see we had a couple of LTE updates in the Rochester market but its been slow for the past couple of months, I'd say the November, December (2013), January and February (of this year 2014) was the fastest upgrade months especially for NV. It would be nice to see them finish up the full build sites for the LTE.  About 10 more to go for Full build sites. 

Are they on Clear sites or Sprint sites?

 

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Just the Sprint sites, I havent been in Syracuse other then on 90/81 since the winter time, so I cant say other then what I have seen.  

Where did you see the new antenna's? I'm usually all over the city for work but I haven't had any B41 pop up on my nexus yet.

 

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on the Thruway (I-90) and on 81.  The 1900/800 antennas are the half circle shaped, the Spark is the rectangular shaped (pointed edges, you can tell the difference, they look very similar to the "clear" antennas).  

Blips of 800 down here in Endicott today. Really really hope this is the last time they tease us down here and it goes 100% tonight. 

I had 1X800 in Syracuse (near I90/81), Rome and Utica.  I noticed Syracuse has the new "Spark antennas" up but I dont have a spark capable device. 

Thank you for the info anyways. I wouldn't have a clue why the area is GMO except it being more rural to be honest. So we are not just waiting on backhaul? Or would backhaul already be in place and the lack of LTE is a side effect of GMO.

 

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I dont want to say with out proper Knowledge but I think when NV (3G) is complete its back haul is there but not complete.  I think GMOs were deployed in rual areas to get NV done faster then convert them to full builds once a market is done, but again I dont want to say something that I am not confident with.  

It really stinks but there is still hope.

I think we are just waiting on backhaul at this point. However long that'll take.

 

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That area is GMO, its gonna be a while.  IF you both Premier Sponsors you would see why its GMO and that GMO generally don't receive LTE (but they are turning LTE on some sites and converting them however to full builds).  It's just like Geneseo is GMO too (college town you would think they would get LTE there asap).  I dont want to give too much info away on the pubic forums. 

Any idea? I happened to be driving around today and noticed this thing, and didn't see It on the premier maps, so I'm assuming it's not Sprint. I never noticed it before today. It's double weird to me because there's a tower less than a tenth of a mile away on the other side of the road with all the carriers as far as I can tell.

 

 

 

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"and noticed this thing"  Generally this "thing" is called a tower/transmission tower, and they Generally have theses things called antennas on them!  

No one is on that tower. People usually are not on a tower unless work is being done to it.

 

AJ

MetroPCS is showing their old LTE 5x5 network that was spectrum crunched, that is now being integrated into T-Mobile's core through MOCN. So those Metro customers were in areas where T-Mobile and Metro were still running separate LTE networks.

 

Cricket is being completely decommissioned. AT&T setups already fully support AWS LTE and will quickly be able to integrate Cricket AWS and PCS once their networks get shut down.

 

For all practical purposes what's left of Cricket is being merged into AIO which is rebranding as the New Cricket.

I knew that already! By the way the people I knew that had the old Cricket (I am in an old Cricket CDMA market), they told me the coverage was crappy, the 3G speeds were horrible too.  A guy I was friends with, he had been in the cities where they had the Cricket native coverage Rochester (NY), Buffalo, Syracuse and Pittsburgh, PA (he traveled a lot), he said it didnt matter what Cricket market he was in he tole me....it was in his words "garbage".  I convinced him to switch to Sprint and he always thought Sprint was bad with coverage and I proved him wrong.  I told him that now Sprint has improved the towers and signal should be better now (he didnt care about the technical terms (for example GMO).  I actually spoke with him a couple of weeks ago to see how his experience was and he said "I didnt think Sprint was good but I haven't had any signal problems yet and I can keep my calls connected!  The 4G LTE could be better but the 3G is better then Cricket" 

Hey at least I am trying to get my friends to see that Sprint HAS improved and its better then it was! 

All the American providers do shitty, even holy St. Verizon (sarcasm guys!)

You know one thing that Opensignal and Sensorly (Sensorly used to have it on there maps, no longer an option) shows is Vrigin mobile and Boost and its the same darn coverage as being a customer directly on Sprint!!  Its pretty goofy if you ask me to have that, the only difference in coverage is roaming.  Virgin and Boost have the same access to LTE, Wimax (lol), and Spark.  

As a side note....Do you ever see for example GoSmart Mobile? Nope! and they are owned by T-mobile and thats not on there. Metro PCS I don't know if its showing just there own old CDMA coverage or not.  Cricket, thats just showing there old CDMA, since the re branding is brand new basically.  

What new name do you want.

Hmmm..... Never really gave it too much thought, I was just saying I think a change would be good!   

IF Sprint an T-mobile DO merge I wish they would have a BRAND NEW name that has nothing to do with Sprint or T-mobile in the name.  A brand new name would be refreshing to see.  I have absolutely nothing against either company or company names obviously, I just think it would be nice to change it to something new, both companies have have had both good and bad pasts and if the merger would be done the combination would be a new beginning so to speak. (remember Sprint did do that SMALL name change but they added the Nextel to the end though)....

This is just my opinion, I know the name change would probably never happen but just thought I would put it out there....  

I was in Myrtle Beach about two weeks ago and compared to a year ago when I was there the coverage was incredible.  People with me had AT&T and spent most of the time with either one bar or no signal at all.  That is the way Sprint was a year ago.  This time, I had LTE and at least two bars and often four or five bars with very usable speeds while my AT&T friends complained about not even being able to send a text message or load Facebook.

AT&T just got 4G LTE (about 2 weeks ago) and all 3 other carriers had LTE before them! (Kinda funny they are #2 and #1,3, & 4 got in before summer lol).  Last year Sprint was challenging though a lot of the time I was on 1X near the beach, but when I was EVDO or e-HRPD it was alright.  I am going down next month and it will be nice to have the better speeds.    

Myrtle Beach REALLY needed it no matter what carrier you have, it gets really congested there!  

Yup they turned on madian mt read no manitou and mill tho

I know its frustrating, I know West Greece is a very populated area, its not that they don't want LTE there fast, its back haul issues  like I mentioned before when I talked to the contractors.  I do have the one guys number but I have been way too busy to see if he could find out anything about that tower.  Hang in there!